>> jon karl live at the white house. jon, thank you. >>> the senate tonight launching a new investigation, this time focucusing on loretta lynch. looking into whether lynch interfered in the hillary clinton e-mail case. earlier this month, james comey testified lynch told him to downplay the fbi investigation. >>> now, to outrage from some, after that plan from senate republicans were finally revealed. their place to repeal and replace obamacare. tonight, some leading republicans on the hill have made it clear they're not onboard. some arguing the cuts are too deep. mary bruce on the hill again tonight. >> reporter: at the airport, lawmakers leaving washington for >> take our care, we'll vote them out! >> reporter: anger erupting from california -- >> are you ready to fight! >> reporter: to pennsylvania. if more than two republican senators vote no, the health care bill won't pass. and now, at least five say they're not onboard. nevada senator dean heller today announcing his decision. >> this bill that currently in fron

. >> and so jon karl live with us from the white house. jon if the president told the president on multiple occasions he wasn't under investigation, why didn't comey go public that president trump isn't personally under investigation. >> comey said there were several reasons for not going public. primarily, because if it changed and if the fbi investigation began to turn to focus on president trump, comey said it would have been a duty to correct the record. by the way, david, we now have a statement from the president's personal attorney, noting that comey said, on three separate occasions that he was not under investigation. he says, the president feels completely and totally vindicated. david. >> vindicated the word from the president's personal attorney tonight. jon karl, our thanks to you. abc's chief legal analyst with us, dan abrams. comey did tell the president he's not under investigation personally. he also writes in the memo that president demanded loyalty, expects loyalty. on the michael flynn investigation, he said, can you le

. >> so, let's get to jon karl live at the white house. and jon, sean spicer was pressed again today on whether or not the president has secretly recorded conversations there at the white house, in particular, with james comey. no cameras orred all owe from that briefing allowed today. obviously, you were there. so, what did spicer say? >> reporter: at one point, spicer said the president would probably reveal by the end of the week whether those recordings exist. at another point, he said possibly by the end of the week. but the one thing that you will not see or hear are recordings of sean spicer today. david, and more and more of these briefings, the white house is simply not allowing news organizations to take video of spicer or to broadcast his words. >> that will be debated for some time to come. jon karl. our thanks to you. >>> and there are tensions with russia mounting tonight, after a u.s. fighter jet shot down a syrian war plane. russia now saying american and coalition planes will now be tracked as targets over parts of syria.

just friday as you know that president trump's exchange happened with our jon karl. jon asking, would you will be willing to speak under oath? here's what the president said. >> would you be willing to speak under oath to give your version of en -- >> 100%. i didn't say under oath. i hardly know the man. i'm not going to say i want you to pledge allegiance. who would do that? under oath. think of it, i hardly know the man. it doesn't make sense. >> cecilia, you were there today. the white house was asked, does that offer still stand. >> he was asked whether in fact this testimony might happen? he hedged. this was sean spicer today, right here in the briefing room, he's not had further discussions with the president about this potential testimony. a very different answer from the white house today than the very adamant president trump we heard from a couple of days ago. >> cecilia, good to have you back tonight. >>> also breaking news in the bill cosby sex assault case. the comedian once known as america's dad, arriving at court with his wife camille by his side. the

david. >> jon karl with us live from the white house. more to come on this story for sure. >>> in the meantime, on thursday, abc news will carry director comey's testimony live with a special report at 10:00. right here on abc. >>> among those watching thursday's hearings, the president's sons, donald junior and eric. tonight, in an exclusive interview with abc's chief national correspondent tom llamas, don trump jr. speaking about the russian investigation now entangling the white house. >> a lot of people, including trump supporters have described this whole thing as a witch hunt. do you really think it's a witch hunt? >> to me it's not without a question reads and smells like a witch hunt. because i have no other proof or evidence to show otherwise. >> tom with us here in the studio. great to have you. another headline breaking while we're on the air, involving the president's sons. a charity golf tournament, forbes magazine reporting a portion of the money raised went back to the trump organization and you reached out to family. >> t

cecilia, we're getting information coming in from jon karl as well our jon karl saying a member of the leadership is telling him that one staffer and one lobbyist also shot confirming the five people down. >> reporter: and, jon is reporting, george, that a senior member of gop leadership is telling him that scalise and members of his security detail as we know were hit. they say that scalise was hit in the hip and should be okay. of course, we saw those immanages of him right there on that stretcher after this incident. so some of the details that we do know at this point we heard from others that were on that scene. five people were shot, we're hearing between 50 to 60 possibly as many as 100 shots fired out there this morning. security being upped around the white house and the capitol right now. as we know that suspect is in custody as per just reported being treated at the hospital. the details from what happened at that baseball diamond just absolutely stunning. the security detail that opened fire on a shooter who was inside the dugout with what we're being told was a semiautomat

. >>> also tonight, after the president told our jon karl he wants the testify, what the white house is now saying tonight. >>> also, the defense rests in the bill cosby sexual assault trial, after just six minutes and a single witness. >>> the penn state fraternity members waiting nearly 12 hours before calling for help. tonight the stunning moment in court as video of the dying student is played before everyone. >>> the urgent manhunt at the hour for inmates.

the president tells our jon karl he would be willing to speak under oath about his side in the now famous conversation between him and his former fbi director. >> that would be interesting if he did testify. >>> also right now health warning for you and your children. tyson foods recalling nearly 2.5 million pounds of its ready to eat breaded chicken products. the inspection services says it could contain undeclared allergens packaged between august 2016 and january 2017. >>> and show me the money. powerball fever, it is back. tonight is the big 435 million bucks and counting. it is one op biggest drawings. your chances of winning are 1 in 292 million. >> i like those odds. >> it doesn't buy happiness, okay. >> all it takes is one. >> you could get struck by lightning sooner than -- >> you could probably get struck by lightning six times. >>> coming up how george and amal clooney are settling into their new role as parents of twins. the proud grandmas spilling secrets. i'll point out one of the babies is named alexander and as the father of an alexander, i salute them. >> fine name. >> se

jon karl, thanks very much. amy. >> all right, george, the president's sons are speaking out exclusively to abc news. donald jr. and eric trump sat down with tom llamas. we have a preview of what was said. when tom asked about the president's tweets criticizing the mayor of london. >> every time he puts something out there he gets criticized by the media all day every day and guess what, two weeks later he's proven to be right. it happened again and we keep appeasing it and keep saying it's going to be great. we'll hold fast and we'll keep calm and carry on. maybe we have to keep calm and do something. i think that's what he's trying to say because he's been proven right every time. this is a recurring theme. we're attacked but rather than the mayor of london attacking maybe he should do something to fix the problem rather than just sit there and pretend there isn't one. i think that's an important message. >> you think the mayor of london is at fault. >> that's not what i said. i think it's time for the people

let's start with our chief white house correspondent jon karl. good morning, jon. >> reporter: good morning, george. comey's dramatic testimony has set up a new line of attack from the white house, a battle between the president and the former fbi director over who is telling the truth. in his first public appearance since being fired by president trump, james comey accused the white house of lying about him and lying about the fbi. >> the administration then chose to defame me and, more importantly, the fbi by saying that the organization was in disarray, that it was poorly led, that the workforce had lost confidence in its leader. those were lie, plain and simple. >> reporter: and comey left no doubt about why he believes he was fired. >> it's my judgment that i was fired because of the russia investigation. i was fired in some way to change or the endeavor was to change the way the russia investigation was being conducted. that is a very big deal. >> reporter: comey's testimony left president trump uncharacteristically speechless. >> thank you

. >>> also tonight, after the president told our jon karl he wants the testify, what the white house is now saying tonight. >>> also, the defense rests in the bill cosby sexual assault trial, after just six minutes and a single witness. >>> the penn state fraternity members waiting nearly 12 hours before calling for help. tonight the stunning moment in court as video of the dying student is played before everyone. >>> the urgent manhunt at the hour for inmates.

karl at the white house tonight. jon, thank you. >>> we have two more legal questions tonight. one about the president and one about james comey as well. i want to bring in dan abrams. on this issue of michael flynn, the alleged request we heard about in the oval office. the president allegedly saying to comey, i hope you can let it go. comey pressed on that today. the president saying i hope, not i order you let it go. here's the moment comey was pressed on that point. listen. >> i hope you'll hold back on that but when you -- when the president of the united states in the oval office says something i hope, i suggest or would you -- do you think that as a directive? >> yes. >> well, look, i think that the way james comey took it is fairly clear, he took it as a directive, an order from the president, and it's an order that he said that he would ignore. why didn't he do something about it? he said he didn't want to derail the russia investigation. a bit of a bombshell, they specifically left open the possibility of i

. >> jon karl with us live from the white house. you have reported before that some of the president's closest allies are getting in trouble with the tweets. are they concerned in and today's tweet actually seemed more carefully worded. >> his legal team is concerned about the tweeting, no question about that zaifd. bru this tweet did seem carefully crafted, white down to the punctuation and the white house press office saw the tweet before it went out. that almost never happens. >> jon, thanks as always. >>> we are also following dangerous weather at this hour. dangerous twisters and the atlanta area put on alert. one twister across birmingham, alabama. this strip mall. children in baseball helmets sheltering in bathtubs. 30 million people are in flood watches over 1,000 miles. and steve osunsami north of atlanta tonight. >> reporter: tornado warnings are up tonight. and there are twisters in the areas of alabama. >> it was really big. >> reporter: just outside birmingham, a torrent hit and from a mile away, people recording on the

at least not yet. >> okay, jon karl, thanks very much. amy. >> now to that blockbuster new report raising questions about the trump organization and charity golf events that were meant to raise money for children with cancer. our chief national correspondent tom llamas is here with new reporting on this. good morning, tom. >> reporter: amy, good morning to you. eric trump coming out very strong in defense of his foundation but this morning we have some of the charity's financial documents that are raising questions. ♪ we're not going to take it anymore ♪ >> reporter: that's twisted sister rocking out with the trump family in 2015, even the president jamming. according to an eric trump foundation promotional video, this all happened in the name of charity. >> one girl paid $50,000 to see my father, myself and ivanka go up on stage with dee snider. >> reporter: those charity events for his foundation were quite the blow-outs starting with golf on trump courses, hooters girls on the greens and nighttime fun with acts like comedian lisa l

. >>> also tonight, after the president told our jon karl he wants the testify, what the white house is now saying tonight. >>> also, the defense rests in the bill cosby sexual assault trial, after just six minutes and a single witness. >>> the penn state fraternity members waiting nearly 12 hours before calling for help. tonight the stunning moment in court as video of the dying student is played before everyone. >>> the urgent manhunt at the hour for inmates.

jon karl, thanks very much. amy? >> george, james comey is not the only one the world will be watching closely this morning. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle reacting to comey's testimony and preparing to ask those high stakes questions. let's go straight to our congressional correspondent mary bruce in the committee hearing room on capitol hill for more on that. good morning, mary. >> reporter: good morning, amy. comey has yet to even be sworn in here but already his testimony has rocked capitol hill and sparked some key new questions. democrats are describing comey's account as devastating and shocking. even some republican leaders agree that it is inappropriate for the president to try and demand loyalty of his fbi director, but now they want to know more about these interactions. that's exactly what this hearing here today is all about. lawmakers here are going to be trying to drill into these interactions to try and glean the president's tone and intent as they try to get to the bottom of those big key quest

. >> let's get to jon karl. the president clearly seems frustrated with his attorney general. tonight, your sources telling you that frustration goes both ways. >> it does. after the president recently lashed out at the attorney general yet again, attorney general sessions said that he was more than willing to resign, when i asked -- when we asked the spokesperson for the department of justice whether or not in fact he had offered to resign, we got simply a decline to comment. david. >> more to come on this story for sure. >>> in the meantime, on thursday, abc news will carry director comey's testimony live with a special report at 10:00. >>> among those watching thursday's hearings, the president's son, donald junior and eric. tonight in an exclusive interview with tom llamas, don trump jr. speaking about the russian investigation now entangling the white house. >> you've described this whole thing as a witch zblunt to me it's not without a question reads and smells like a witch hunt. because i have no other proof or evidence to show otherwise. >> tom with us here in the stud

abc's jon karl pressed the white house about the comment. >> the president directly misrepresented what the mayor o >> i don't think that's actually true. i think the media wants 0 spin it that way. >> you think the mayor was saying there's no reason to be alarmed by an attack on his city. you think that's what he was saying. >> i think the point is there is a reason to unbe alarmed. >> reporter: they're trying to scrap an up coming state visit. >> i don't think we should roll out the red carpet to the president of the usa in the circumstances where his policies go against everything we stand for. >> some other british lawmakers are now calling on prime minister may to cancel the president's state visit. so far no comment about the feud or the visit from may. >>> now, all of this as we're getting new details about the london terror attacks. let's start with the newly released security video that shows the heroic efforts by a restaurant manager and patrons trying to keep out one of the attackers who tried to get into the front door. >> police have publicly identified two of the three ter

. >> jon karl joins us now, and jon, any response from the first lady to the it president's tweets? >> reporter: we asked the first lady directly about this shortly after the tweets went out. what we got from her office was this statement. as the first lady as stated publicly when her husband gets attacked, he will punch back ten times harder. so no indication she considers this an example of cyberbullying. >> jon, the timing of all this couldn't be worse. the fire storm comes with republicans struggling to cut a deal on health care. >> reporter: and the republicans had hoped to have a deal by tomorrow. the vice president was on capitol hill today meeting with republican senators, but tom, as of this moment, there is no indication whatsoever of any further progress that they are any closer to care bill that will pass the senate. >> jonathan karl for us. jonathan, thank you. >>> in the meantime, the russian investigation is closing in on the president's inner circle. a correct me if i'm wrongshal committee wanting to question a man who served at trump tower for more than a decade. he

. >> jon karl with us live from the white house. you have reported before that some of the president's closest allies have complained that he gets himself in trouble with some of these tweets. are they concerned? and today's tweet actually seemed more carefully worded. >> his legal team is concerned about the tweeting, no question about that, david. but this tweet did seem carefully crafted, white down to the punctuation and the white house press office saw the tweet before it went out. that almost never happens. >> jon, thanks as always. >>> we are also following dangerous weather at this hour. multiple twisters reported today and just before we came on the atlanta area put on alert tonight. one twister alreadying barreling across crowded birmingham, alabama. this strip small mall shattered. children in baseball helmets sheltering in bathtubs. we have seen it before and tonight, 30 million people are in flood watches over 1,000 miles. abc's steve osunsami north of atlanta tonight. >> reporter: tornado watches are up tonight from th

. >> jon karl joins us from the white house, and clear this us for us. for months, trump called the russia story a hoax. why is he now attacking president obama for not being tough enough on the russians? >> reporter: well, tom. he is clearly jumping on an opportunity to criticize president obama, but even as the intelligence community warns that russia will try to do it again, combatting russian interference has hardly been a priority at this white house, tom. >> jonathan karl, thank you. >>> we move onto the wildfires raging in the west. 21 large fires in seven states fueled by the extreme heat and strong winds. take a look at the flames moving quickly across the winds. near prescott, arizona, and burning close to the highway in california. more than 1,500 people forced to evacuate, hoping their homes can be saved. matt gutman is on the fire lines tonight. >> reporter: tonight an army of firefighters in utah battling a fire that has sent up walls of flame 100 feet high, torching an area the size of washington, d.c. >> i've never seen a run like what ha